Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Shanila Sattar, Founder of AlwaysPlay Studios and Flow Breathwork Facilitator Training, located in Austin, TX, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I'm the founder of AlwaysPlay Studios and Flow Breathwork Facilitator Training, where I train practitioners in the healing arts. My studio certifies breathwork facilitators using elements of wisdom traditions, science, and mysticism.

Tell us about yourself

My background is in tech, having co-founded an award-winning web agency and in women's research science, specifically in mindsets, implicit bias, perfectionism, women's health, and societal experiences supported through the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, and several universities.

I got started in the healing arts of my own need to learn how to take care of many illnesses I was facing within my body. I'm motivated to teach others holistic tools of self-care, like breathwork, sound healing, and movement.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is being able to see incredible breathwork facilitators who are doctors, therapists, healers, coaches, teachers, and nurses be able to bring applied and practical wellness tools to their communities. It's incredible to see the work rippling into the community in so many different ways.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The hardest thing is to remember why you started to do what you do in the first place and always come back to that. It's easy to be distracted and feel like enough isn't being done, but as long as the intention of my own remains, it becomes easier.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Three tips I would give to a new entrepreneur:

  1. Play and be willing to change your mind as you learn about yourself as an entrepreneur, who your product or service is for, and if at any point that changes.
  2. Be a student first. Keep a beginner's mindset and be willing to learn. If you think you know everything, you don't. At the same time, trust yourself, but also learn new things and adapt!
  3. Be scrappy in the beginning. There's no need to spend money you don't have or take loans on your business endeavors. Use resources like the internet, YouTube, community mentorships, and similar avenues to do more with less money. Invest as it becomes financially responsible.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website:
https://www.flowbreathworktraining.com/
https://www.alwaysplay.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamshanilasattar/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shanila.sattar/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanilasattar/

Photos by: Reagan Schwab

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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